Pre-Proposal Guidelines

**Pre-Proposals must be completed by March 1, 2012. Any submissions received after that date will not be considered for further development as a full proposal.

The QEP Committee will evaluate the Pre-Proposal Submissions based on the overall impact of the Pre-Proposal for UMHB. The committee will also evaluate the Pre-Proposal Paper on how each proposal addresses the key requirements and criteria statements as outlined below:

Clearly identifies and targets student learning

The importance of this need for UMHB and how it may result in higher quality learning.

Addresses some potential actions that may be taken to improve student learning at UMHB.

Identifies a topic that is focused yet has broad interest and relevance.

Affects a well-defined and generally large group of students.

Suggests the level of departmental and unit involvement.

The weights of the various sections of the Pre-Proposal Paper are stated on the UMHB QEP website. All proposers are strongly encouraged to consult www.umhb.edu/qep for important information about the QEP that will assist you in developing a competitive Pre-Proposal.

**Proposers should be aware that their Pre-Proposal Paper may be available on the web for comment from the campus community after the committee has reviewed the Pre-Proposals. Furthermore, the QEP committee will do a blind review of the Pre-Proposal---the identifying information will be separated from the Pre-Proposal Paper before it is sent to the QEP Committee for review. Proposers therefore SHOULD NOT IDENTIFY THEMSELVES in the body of the concept paper. Proposers are strongly encouraged to consult UMHB’s Vision Statement, Mission, (http://about.umhb.edu/our-mission) as well as our Strategic Plan for 2011-2018 (http://about.umhb.edu/strategic-plan) to understand how your QEP Pre-Proposal would mesh with our institutional vision, mission and goals.

Up to seven Pre-Proposal Papers as judged the by QEP Committee will be selected and invited to develop Full Topic Proposals (Proposals of 10-12 pages) in the second round of the competition. The QEP Committee will exercise considerable discretion in deciding upon the final invitations to participate in the Proposal development. Since there may well be several Pre-Proposals related to a particular theme, the QEP Committee may ask Pre-Proposal proposers to work together to create a full Proposal. The QEP Committee may also solicit involvement from individuals or units in developing full Proposals. For example, it would be extremely difficult for a single student with a winning Pre-Proposal to then develop that theme to a Proposal without considerable assistance from faculty/staff members. The QEP Committee will exercise initiative in making important connections for proposers.

The QEP committee strongly encourages collaboration between faculty/staff and students in developing the pre-proposal and possible proposal.

$1000 prizes will be awarded for up to seven proposals. If less than seven proposals are selected, then the prize money will be divided equally among selected proposals. An equal prize will be awarded to each proposal, regardless of the number of authors who contributed. For example, each author of a five-author proposal would receive $200, while each author of a two-author proposal would receive $500, and so forth.

Prizes of $1000 for the fully developed Proposals will be awarded per Proposal regardless of the number of authors of up to seven Proposals. If less than seven Proposals are selected then the prize money will be divided equally among selected Proposals. All awards are considered taxable income. Awards paid to university employees are considered wages and reported on Form W-2. Awards are subject to applicable federal withholding and employment taxes.

Awards paid to students, alumni or community participants are considered miscellaneous income. No taxes will be withheld, but award will be reported on Form 1099. Recipients will be responsible for any applicable taxes.

Elements of the Pre-Proposal

Style and Submission Requirements

Proposers must complete all fields found on the online pre-proposal submission form found at http://www.umhb.edu/qep/pre-proposal-submittal-form . Identifying information will be kept separate from the actual pre-proposal. However, Information Technology will link identifying information to the pre-proposal upon conclusion of scoring. This will allow for and unbiased scoring of the pre-proposal by members of the QEP committee.

Individuals and/or groups completing the pre-proposal form online will be limited to 2000 characters. The QEP committee recommends that those submitting a pre-proposal utilize a word processing program (i.e. Word) for the initial draft of the pre-proposal. The pre-proposal can then be pasted into the online submission form.

Themes for Pre-Proposal Development

The following themes were derived from the results of the UMHB learning community idea survey. Pre-Proposals should align with one of the following themes. Pre-Proposals which do not align with a theme will not be considered for further development.

1. Theme: Communication Effectiveness

Learning Outcomes: The UMHB student will communicate effectively with written and oral skills.